Digital display option for road tax, licence from today - Loke

PUTRAJAYA: Starting today (Feb 10), private vehicle owners are no longer required to display road tax stickers on their vehicles, but instead can use the digital Motor Vehicle Licence (e-LKM).

Also available in digital display mode from today is the digital Malaysian Driving Licence (e-LMM).

Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said the implementation of e-LKM and e-LMM is the first phase of a digitalisation step in the core services of the Road Transport Department (RTD).

"This initiative will be implemented in stages, with the first phase involving individual private vehicles, including motorcycles, taking into account system readiness and public acceptance of its implementation, before expanding its implementation to the next phases," he said.

The digital display mode of e-LKM and e-LMM can be downloaded through the RTD public portal or MyJPJ mobile application, under an in-house pilot project.

Loke said in line with the initiative, the provisions under Section 20 of the Road Transport Act 1987 (Act 333), where 'each vehicle registration licence must be affixed and displayed on the relevant vehicle', will no longer be enforced for the category of owners under the first phase.

He added that the enforcement, carried out by the RTD and the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), would be parallel, and gave assurances that the enforcement would no longer issue summonses against those who were allowed to not display the road tax sticker on their vehicles.

"If the owner is issued a summons for not displaying the road tax, he can send it to the Ministry of Transport for 'no further action', because the exemption will be gazetted within two weeks," he said.

Loke also said that the public needs not to panic because digital display is not yet mandatory, and owners are given an option because the implementation of advocacy is done within a year for the people to adapt to the digital system, as well as taking into account the constraints of owners in rural areas, especially in Sabah and Sarawak.

During the implementation period of the first phase, the categories of vehicle owners or licence holders who are still required to display road tax are private companies, vehicles owned by foreigners and commercial vehicles covering goods vehicles and public service vehicles.

While for the driving licence, Learner's Driving Licence (LDL) holders; vocational licence holders (PSV, GDL, KON); foreigners who hold Malaysian driving licences and international driving permit (IDP) holders for foreign drivers, are still required to have a physical card.

Loke said that the digitalisation measures were able to reduce congestion at RTD offices and counters by up to 80 per cent, where now every month an average of 1.5 million vehicles need road tax renewal.

He added that the first phase of RTD digitalisation could also bring savings of RM96 million a year, in terms of the cost of stickers and cards.

"Members of the public can also save time, and do not have to pay a third party for the delivery of (physical) stickers," he said.

-- BERNAMA